Imphal, December 03 2008: In a rare but welcome gesture, a small town newspaper published from Tamenglong district has successfully organised volleyball tournament at the district level for the second consecutive years.

Inspite of the hardship involved, the event has been organised with a cause.

The tournament was held on November 16 to mark the anniversary of Deh Cham (World News), the two-paged legal size newspaper published in Rongmei dialect as well as the National Press Day.

Earlier Deh Cham was published in Kabui dialect but in Bengali script.

But since November 16, 2001, the medium of the newspaper has been changed to Rongmei dialect but written in Roman script.

The final match of the volleyball tournament that had been in progress over several days along with participation by around 20 teams including that of the Assam Rifles (11th Battalion), Manipur Police/Manipur Rifles and other from remote areas of Tamenglong district was played on November 16 .

The final match was decided on the basis of the best of three instead of the usual best of five norm due to time constraint.

The team of the Assam Rifles emerged as the winner defeating the team of Manipur Police/Manipur Rifles by 2-1 .

The winning AR team and their large supporters went back shouting slogans 'Who was the winner last yearWe, Who is the winner this year-We, Who will be the winner next year-We'.

It was for the second consecutive years that De Cham has successfully organised the tournament.

Along with the running trophy, the champion team received a cash reward of Rs 7000 while the runner up received a cash reward of Rs 4,000 along with a trophy.

Prizes were also given for the Best Referee, Best Players and Best Discipline Team.

When asked about the motive behind organising such a district level tournament by a small town newspaper and how it manages to do so, the publisher, Printer and Editor of Deh Cham Ramkung Pamei explained that the inspite of the hardship involved, the tournament is being organised with a cause and it would continue to do so in future.

He said that lack of discipline and respect for elders among the youngsters have become the bane of modern society.

So it is to instill discipline among the youngsters and to encourage them to lead a healthy lifestyle through the medium of sports and games that the volleyball tournament is being organised.

On the financial involved in organising such a big event, the editor informed that 11 Assam Rifles provided a sum of Rs 10,000 while another Rs 1000 by the Zeliangrong Students' Union, Tamenglong toward organising the tournament successfully.

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